Love Of Moonlight
by Shadow Of The Fallen Sage
Summary: How far would a goddess go for a love that transcends death itself? Read and find out.


**A/N This is my first story so constructive criticism is welcome all flames will be ignored. This is my own idea, story, and character. Other than the Olympians that show up in this story. Furthermore, my grammar and writing, in general, is not the best in the world, so go easy, now onto the story.**

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Love of Moonlight

The moon is full shining brightly upon a man and woman sitting on a hill in the middle of the Alaskan wilds watching the stars. The man is dressed in military cargo pants and a gray jacket with black boots. The woman is wearing a white knee length dress and sandals. The night is clear with a bite of frost in the air, the leaves are rustling in the wind, the babbling of a nearby creek can just barely be heard. The man on the right breaks the silence, "You know I really hate the fact that you don't feel the cold. I mean it's the middle of November, and you're just wearing a white dress, can't we at least start a fire." The woman stirs from her thoughts, "just because you're cold doesn't mean you can complain. Daniel, when I asked if you wanted to join me on my hunts I said that there would be rules, and do you remember what rule three was?" Daniel turned his head away from the woman, "no complaining, but I've been with you for the past thirteen years. Don't you think that earns me the right to complain a little, Artemis." Artemis turns toward Daniel, "no, so stop complaining." Slipping back into thought, Artemis contemplated how she got to this point sitting in the middle of nowhere without a care in the world.

It began like she knew it would, the humans lost faith in them. They started to see the world without the fear and reverence they once had. They started to find new gods to believe in, better gods. Gods that were what we never could be, so we the great gods faded into obscurity. Our power now explained by science and logic, no longer could we unleash our curses and wrath without them finding some logical reason. Watching the humans change from the simple war mongers to geniuses that can build towers high as the mountains, that challenge's Mount Olympus itself. To see them build machines the likes of which the gods could not even imagine was the final nail in the coffin. We were no longer needed or wanted, so we simply sat back and watched no longer the powers we once were. I knew there wasn't anything we could do, so I made my choice. I took my Nymphs and did what I did best, hunt. Even as my hunt shrank from over a hundred to fifty, to only a dozen, finally till I was the only one hunting through the ages.

It took me a couple of years to realize that I was lonely, I had been hunting by myself for four hundred years, the last of my maidens had faded from existence. I was on the outskirts of New Jersey, I had just finished hunting a wild Pegasus when I heard him. His name was Daniel no surname, a ten-year-old orphan abandoned by his family. I blame the loneliness for influencing my choice, of taking him in and raising him. Well, it just goes to show that you should not make life changing choices after a major event. Twelve years of caring for a child and this is what I get, a whiny twenty-two-year-old who can't even handle a little cold. "Hey, I take offense to that," Daniel cried out indignantly. "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't mean to say that last bit out loud," Artemis said before getting up. "After all, it's not like you complain about the simplest of things," her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Ha Ha, I bet you think you're so funny, you…you…. I got nothing," Daniel muttered in despair. **"GROWL,"** a demonic howl cut off Artemis's next response. Capturing both of their attentions, Artemis materialized her silver bow and quiver full of arrows. Daniel grabbed his crossbow that was on the ground beside him. "Hellhounds, three by the sound of it. How about a wager, whoever kills them first doesn't have to set up camp the next three times?" Daniel asked Artemis in anticipation. "Sure, you can set the next camp in Antarctica," she called over her shoulder as she took off laughing into the surrounding woods. "HEY, NO FAIR," Daniel, yelled taking off after her.

Laughing as she rushed through the forest, the wind whipping her fiery shoulder length hair around her as she left Daniel in the dust. Quickly deciding to get the best vantage point, Artemis changed into her younger form and took to the trees. Jumping from one tree to the next making little to no noise, she finally spotted the three hellhounds wondering through a clearing, dead wolves scattered around them. Scanning the immediate area, Artemis jumped onto the smallest branch of a Sitka spruce that could hold her weight. Taking several deep breaths before drawing three arrows, one for each of the hellhounds. She took aim and unleashed all three arrows one after another all within half a second. The first arrow drilled into the eye of the leading hellhound, the second arrow slipped between the ribs into the heart of the second hellhound, the third arrow slammed into the back of the head of the third and final hellhound, severing its spinal cord. All three hellhounds hit the ground dead before they even knew they were in danger.

Jumping down from the spruce Artemis made her way over to the dead hellhounds, she pulled the arrows from the hellhounds, disintegrated the bodies in a flash of godly power. "Seriously, why do I even keep Daniel around, if he can't even keep up with me," she thought before heading back in the direction she arrived from. "Honestly, you are taking forever. If you just sat back at camp again, I'm going to skin you alive," she called out into the surrounding forest. Finally, arriving at camp expecting Daniel to be sitting by a blazing fire, but only to find the cold reality that the camp hasn't been disturbed since they had left to watch the stars. "Daniel? Where are you? This isn't funny anymore. I swear to the gods that if this is some prank, I'll make our next spar no holds barred." Quickly coming to the conclusion that something was wrong Artemis took off running to where they were star gazing. Searching around the hill, she found Daniel's tracks, though most hunters wouldn't. Taking off at a jog, she followed the tracks that lead northeast deeper into the heart of the forest. After following the undisturbed tracks, Artemis came to a clearing where a struggle took place. Broken branches were scattered around, chunks of earth had been kicked up, and Daniel's silver crossbow was broken in half in the middle of the clearing.

"By the gods, what happened here? Daniel, what have you gotten yourself into this time?" she whispered out in fear of alerting anyone if they were still around. Quietly scouting out the clearing and the immediate area, she came to the conclusion that whoever had done this was long gone. "Damn it, I can't, I won't lose Daniel like I lost everyone else." Taking another look around the clearing, the only clue she could find was that, "whoever did this was intelligent, so it couldn't be a beast mythical or otherwise because if it was there would be some remains. I trained Daniel to be more than a match for a mortal, and there are no indicators that there was more than one assailant. That leaves only an immortal, but which one? I need help, Athena will have a much better idea of who would do this."

Artemis summoned her godly powers and traveled to Olympus. Approaching the throne room, which she had not seen in the past twenty years, Artemis pushed open the golden doors. Looking around the grand room she didn't see any of the other gods, she searched through the Olympus searching for a particular goddess. "Are you looking for someone in particular Artemis?" A voice spoke up behind her. Flinching in surprise, Artemis quickly spun around to find the goddess she was looking for, "don't just sneak up behind people Iris." "Sorry I didn't mean to surprise you, but why are you here?" Iris asked in curiosity "After all, last time you were here, you got into a massive argument with the other Olympians about that mortal you decided to take in." "Look, I just need to know where Athena is, it's extremely important. I will answer any questions that you have once all of this is over." "Fine, last I heard Athena was at the Library of Congress in the Washington, but we will be talking after whatever is going has been resolved," Iris stated before heading off to inform the rest of the gods of what was going on.

Once again using her godly powers, Artemis arrived near the Library of Congress. She disguised herself as a nondescript everyday business woman and entered the library. Taking a quick look around, she spotted Athena in a similar disguise searching through the shelves and made her way over to her. Artemis discreetly got Athena's attention by bumping into her as she walked past her, "I need to talk to you somewhere private." Both of them made their way out onto the street, without drawing too much attention before returning to Olympus. "What happened to the mortal?" Artemis turned in surprise, "how did…" Quickly cutting her off Athena responded in an exasperated tone, "because you haven't talked to the rest of the gods since that mortal came into the picture, and I doubt that you would be here asking for help unless it had something to do with him, so what do you need." Knowing that Athena was not one for idle conversation, Artemis explained the situation to her without missing a single detail.

"So basically you're saying that an immortal or god has taken your mortal, and now you've come to ask me to help you find him, or point you in the direction of the god who did it? Why should I help, he's a mortal, it doesn't matter anyways for all you know he is already dead? Out of all the gods, you should know mortals are weak, and they die every day, for all you know he's already dead," Athena stated coldly. "I can't no, I won't accept that he is dead. He is alive, now either help me or go back to sitting around doing nothing." Artemis growled in anger.

Athena releases a deep breath before placing a comforting hand on Artemis's shoulder, "I will help you sister, but you know this will only end in tears. It is the only outcome, the final outcome for choosing to care for a mortal." Artemis shrugs off Athena's hand, "it doesn't matter just tell me what you know, it might not be too late, if you help me I can still save him. Please, I never asked you for anything just this once don't try and dissuade me from doing this," Artemis begged Athena nearly in tears. "It has to be someone who wanted to hurt you, because they kidnapped Daniel instead of killing him outright, so that means it is a god or goddess who has a grudge against you or Daniel. Whoever did it knows how you hunt they struck fast the struggle was over in a couple of minutes tops. Now that discounts Ares because he would have prolonged the fight as long as possible. That also leaves out father and Poseidon, they would've simply struck him down in a moment. Hades has wondered off to Zeus knows where. Dionysus is in Italy last I heard, Hermes usually doesn't cause trouble like this. Aphrodite is currently having a wonderful time in Paris, Hara hasn't left Mount Olympus for three hundred years, Hephaestus is in San Francisco learning about the new technology, and Demeter has been bothering Zeus about why Hades is wondering around the world with Persephone. That leaves me, and Apollo. Obviously, if you suspected me then you wouldn't have come to me for help, so that leaves Apollo who has been rather quiet lately." Artemis turned and started to walk away. Athena called out to her, "what are you going to do?" "Find Apollo," she said before fading into moonlight.

 **"WHERE IS HE!"** Artemis roared as she busted down the doors to a conference room in Walt Disney Studios, Burbank California. All but one person jumped in surprise at Artemis's appearance. Quickly using his godly power Apollo, teleported himself and Artemis to the middle of the Arctic, as well as erasing the last 30 seconds from the minds of everyone in the room. "You know, for supposedly being the greatest huntress in the world, it took you a long time to figure out it was me," Apollo stated calmly. "SHUT UP AND TELL ME WHERE HE IS," she screamed in righteous fury before materializing her bow. Apollo stared unimpressed at her display of power, "Dead, if I can't have him, then no one can." Artemis fired several arrows at Apollo enraged at his statement. Quickly summoning his own bow, he shot Artemis's arrows out of the air, she rushed forward firing arrow after arrow aiming for the weak points in his armor, but Apollo an archer, just as skilled as Artemis stood his ground shot her arrows out of the air. Quickly firing three more arrows, she dropped down and slid past Apollo striking the left knee with her bow. Shooting down two of the arrows and dodging a third, Apollo was unable to stop or block her strike. He collapsed onto one knee which allowed Artemis to wrap her bow around his neck and start to choke him out.

Apollo grabbed Artemis's bow and heaved forward throwing Artemis onto the ground in front of him. Artemis responded by grabbing his left arm and using the bow and forward momentum to throw Apollo onto his back, locking his right arm into an armbar. Apollo continued to struggle to no avail. Artemis finally snapped his arm before releasing him with a kick to the head. Both of them slowly got back to their feet, Apollo clutching his right arm. Artemis holding her bow close to her chest, "why, why did you do it?" Apollo pulled his arm back into place before thinking about what she had asked. "Why do you get to find someone to be happy with when every single time I try, I'm left all alone with a broken heart. Why does everyone else get the happy ending, why am I the only one cursed to be alone for eternity?" Apollo asked in anger. "That's it, you killed him because you were JEALOUS," she screamed in anger. " **STOP** JUST stop, Artemis you know what it was like to be alone, so don't act like you wouldn't have done what I did," Apollo growled out. "this isn't like you, this was never like you, so who was it that convinced you to do this, who convinced you to kill Daniel?" Apollo deflated in shame of what Artemis was implying. Seeing his reaction, Artemis knew that she was right, "Who was it?" Finally, after a moment's hesitation, he responded, "It was Aris she showed me the truth, Daniel should have been mine not yours, but Mine." "Aris the goddess of chaos, the goddess who basically started the Trojan war, said that the mortal that has been traveling with me for the past 12 years was yours." She slowly responded in growing fury. "What does it matter, he's dead now nobody gets him so it doesn't matter," Apollo stated coldly. Artemis dematerialized her bow before walking toward Apollo. Watching the mounting fury in Artemis, Apollo knew that he had just said the worst thing possible in this situation. "Because he was worth spending every moment with, and you robbed me of that precious time. You are going to fix this, I don't care how you do it, you will fix this, or so help me, **I will find a way to kill you**." She growled before teleporting both of them to Olympus.

Both of them appeared in the throne room, Artemis turned toward the doorway, "Iris get me, Hermes, right now," she called before shoving Apollo into his throne, "stay there," she growled. Turning back toward the doorway as Hermes arrived, "bring me Hades right now." Seeing that Artemis was in no mood to argue with, he spun and took off to find Hades. "What in god's name do you want now DEAR BROTHER? Hmmm… we had, a deal it isn't my fault Demeter told Hera about Japan," Hades said as he appeared in an explosion of darkness. "Uncle Hades I wanted to talk to you not father, I need a favor." Hades turned in surprise at Artemis's response. "Hmm, and what do you need little huntress, because you don't usually ask me for favors." "Please, I need you to bring someone back from the dead," Artemis asked. "Now why would my dear niece bring someone back from the dead?" Because he was taken long before his time." "Well, if it doesn't interfere with the fates, then you can have him. It's always nice to piss off my dear younger brother." Turning to Apollo, "if you ever want my forgiveness then you'll make sure father agrees to what I want, do you understand?" He responded by shaking his head up and down in panic. Artemis teleported down into the realm of Hades, searching through the entrance, she spotted the only soul wandering through the underworld. Rushing past Cerberus to Daniel's soul, she wrapped her arms around him before clutching him tightly. "Took you long enough to get me," he said before turning and hugging her back. "I missed you, hold on we're going on a little trip," she said before teleporting back to Olympus' throne room, now with all the Olympians in attendance. Letting Daniel go, she approached Zeus, "Father you know me, you know that I have not asked for much throughout time, but for this one thing I ask. Please grant Daniel Immortality so that he may travel with me throughout my hunt for all of eternity." Zeus leans back in his throne in disbelief, "why should I allow this mere mortal the gift of immortality? When we haven't given immortality to a mortal in the past 1500 years." Apollo realizing what she meant earlier, slowly rose, "Father if you love me, just grant her request." Looking between Apollo and Artemis, "fine, he has been granted, only immortality." "Thank you father," Artemis said before grabbing Daniel and teleporting them to camp.

After arriving at their camp in Alaska, Artemis proceeded to tell Daniel about what had happened, well, he was dead. "Wait you went through all that for me?" Daniel questioned in amazement, "why?" Artemis looked Daniel dead in the eye, "because, I Love You."

The End?


End file.
